1. Applied Hedonics: Are you
Pleasuring Yourself Enough at the Cost of Others? Written by the
Shade of Tizzard. A rising
newcomer to the Hot Hell literary scene, the author rings the
warning bell on creeping weal in the City Whose Brass Towers Stand
Beyond.

3. Capital in the XXIII Aeon.
Everyone claims to have read this 2,358 page exploration of demonic
political economy.

4. Three Word Title: A Guide to the
Naming of Products Auteur and Ludic. A short, focused primer.

5. The Iron Doom Crawling Red
Monolith of the Cursed Pod-God Maze. Controversial childhood
memoir of bestselling Roohaznarf the Uncheckable Flame that Consumes
All. Told entirely through random die-drop charts, the title and
accounts of charming life events reset at the conclusion of the book.

6. The Five People You Meet in the
Sun Lord's Orb. A horror novella exploring the terrors of cloying
human religious sentimentality.

7. Black Hobbit Lives Matter Not.
A dry, yet informative oral history of halfling agitators in the world
of Zem.

8. My Turn Again. A political
autobiography of Zzatz, the eternal tyrant of the Seamless Machine.
Rumored to be written by shadowy wraith-writer Mo'laliik.

9. The Tome That Cannot Be Spoken
Of.

10. The Penultimate Tome That Cannot
Be Spoken Of. There is a rather slim volume – one that I am not
specifically referencing in anyway either on my tongue or deep in my
stolen soul, nor am I ideating as a physical object or as literary
concept – that may or may not be the sequel of another book.
Perfect as a gift for that special someone in your life of
Unspeakable Evil.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Business first, starting tomorrow 10:00 am CST Misty Isles of the Eld will be DriveThru RPG's Deal of the Day which means a massive flipping 24-hour sale at 40 percent off. I am highly likely to run a design contest for making a Misty Isle of your own fever dreams tomorrow as a related celebration. Details on that and the related fabulous prizes then.

And now the News from the Hill Cantons...

Our dear Overking Ragimund is gone and buried.
Hurrah for the new Overking, whoever the Sunlord Most Judicious (and
the Lord-Electors) deem worthy.

Though without vote and voice, the
realm is hypercharged with talk of the succession. Screaming
pummeling crowds gather in Marlinko's Tomb-Plaza screaming and
pummeling their arguments for each candidate.

Rumor run down on the candidates:

“Experience the Koz”, the slogan
rings through the commons as the filthy multitudes show their
inexplicable mass love for Koza the Regimental Goat as the new
candidate. Alternately styling themselves Kozers, Koziacs or the
self-deprecating Goat Bros his followers seem to be everywhere and
enthusiastic despite the long odds. Campaign appearances of the goat
inspire a near-hysterical expressions of adulation by the thronging
hordes who bleat in chorus with the short punchy stump speech of the
nominee.

The Uberduke Heimlic of Popradu and his
Steeplejacker party have announced an expansion to their program: a
modest poll tax on the “leveling” of “classed characters”
strangely offset by a tax credit to those characters under the rank
of fifth and possessing no more than 4,999 gold suns.

Wildgraf Bodegast is running on the
standard Grimbibber playbook of mentioning nothing about their
events, program and policy to their social inferiors. There is
little to read in the tea leaves of that party's traditional,
secretive pilgrimage to the Peristyled Temple of He Who Rides
Whooping the World-Turtle into the Ebon Sphere of Blissful
Annihilation, though merchants in the capital find odd the sudden
mass invoicing of frog-featured copper masks and wavy gnome-skinned
daggers by the party.

Under-Prince Yohann-Pavol Legitimus
refuses to campaign as a matter of principle declaring it consistent
with Lisping Norker's time-honored program of changing nothing
“besides the sheets on his bed.”

Meanwhile in Revoca it looks like the
cantonal government is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, thanks to
the infusion of new blood into its officialdom. The shrine to Our
Lady of Not the Lake is looking considerably “less shitty” thanks
to the newly-installed and increasingly-beloved priest. And the Lady
Draga relieved of her perpetual siege by suitors seems almost lively
after her weekly “date nights” with her new Consort. Gambling on
dominos seems to have had a huge uptick in Throvemesto, the miners
camp. The rada council is “almost concerned.”

Friday, September 2, 2016

A full eight out of ten times I am quite
peachy with the abstract (mostly quick) combat resolution of well-aged edition D&D. The game's primary play arena is granular site exploration
and combat typically runs at the right balancing point. (If you don't
believe me go run Runequest in a dungeoncrawl setting and see how far
you get in a session.)

That said, there are some times when it
just runs flat and anti-climatic. Some of the worst let downs being
one-on-one fights with a hated villain or worthy opponent.

For going on seven years I've noodled
around with a few subsystems to model that kind of fight. The first
Hill Cantons Compendium had options for making a pressed
attack at an AC penalty (and a defense with an AC bonus). By this Axe used a dice pool and included some scaling options. The
following synthesize those with some inspirations from the
interesting combat rules from Heritage's old and obscure John
Carter, Warlord of Mars.

Warning: none of this has been
playtested yet (and I am still working out ways to model fights
involving multiple opponents and missile weapons). If you do find yourself using them,
drop me a line and tell me how it goes!

Dueling Rules

Dueling rules are used for climatic or
otherwise interesting battles between single opponents. Standard
rounds and the standard hit/damage system are used but employ
non-standard options, modifiers and initiative. Players and the GM
write down their option from the following list before the round
starts and reveal them as it begins.

2. All-Out Attack. Attacker
pushes the limits and trades a furious series of blows—at a cost of
corresponding amount of AC for the round. If she hits and scores
damage at or above the result on the following chart. Opponent taking
Concerted Defense gets a modified attack, but no Counter.

To Hit Option

AC Penalty

Damage Inflicted to Stop Counter

+1

-1

5 hp

+2

-2

7 hp

+3

-3

9 hp

+4

-4

11 hp

3. Concerted Defense. Character
pulls into a defensive stance, parrying and waiting for an opening to
strike. The character opts for a bonus to his AC, taking a
corresponding penalty to hit for attacks this round. The character
strikes at the end of the round and may gain a Counter (a second
similarly penalized attack in the round) if an All-Out fails to
hit and/or make the minimum damage threshold.

AC Bonus

To Hit Penalty

+1

-1

+2

-2

+3

-3

+4

-4

4. Dirty Trick. Character
attempts to throw sand in the face of her opponent, kick in the
nether parts or otherwise distract the opponent (player/GM should go
wild giving flavor for this). On a roll of 1-2 on a d6 the opponent
can not carry through with their option this round (AC is at normal)
and loses the next
round completely if the trickster employs a Standard Attack. (In
other words the trickster can make a free unmodified, uncountered
attack at typical AC the next round).

Who Strikes First in the Round:

1. Character
playing a Dirty Trick. If both characters are doing Dirty Tricks,
automatic no effect for the round and no effect for the next if they
both succeed at their d6 rolls.

2. Character
making an All-Out Attack. If both characters are attacking than
the character with the higher plus modifier strikes first. If tied
than both attacks are simultaneous.

3. Character
making a Standard Attack. If
both characters choose this, then combat is simultaneous.

4.
Character making a Concerted Defense.
A defending player now attacks using their penalized attack. If he is
defending against an All-Out Attack that didn't hit or makes its
damage threshold then the player gets a Counter, a second penalized
attack.